On Wednesday, the NFL advised its teams that former prosecutor Mary Jo White has been retained to provide an independent review of the bounty evidence. On Thursday, the NFL made White available to the media. White said that she has reviewed all evidence and that the factual basis for the punishments imposed against the players is “quite strong.” She also described the overall process as “thorough, fair, and robust.”

White characterized the punishments as arising from “very strong corroborating evidence,” both from “multiple, independent first-hand accounts” and the 18,000 documents gathered.

Gregg Williams said the NFL was going to come to the Saints facility to ask about the bounty program. Williams also said "some people thought that [Hargrove] had told Vikings player Jimmy Kennedy about the existence of a 'bounty' on Brett Favre because Hargrove was friends with Kennedy."

Hargrove said Williams then said he was going to deny the existence of any bounty system, and that both Williams and Vitt instructed Hargrove to do the same. Williams also said: "Those [expletives] at the NFL have been trying to get me for years" and if all the Saints "stay on the same page, this will blow over."

Gregg Williams said the NFL was going to come to the Saints facility to ask about the bounty program. Williams also said "some people thought that [Hargrove] had told Vikings player Jimmy Kennedy about the existence of a 'bounty' on Brett Favre because Hargrove was friends with Kennedy."

Hargrove said Williams then said he was going to deny the existence of any bounty system, and that both Williams and Vitt instructed Hargrove to do the same. Williams also said: "Those [expletives] at the NFL have been trying to get me for years" and if all the Saints "stay on the same page, this will blow over."

Williams says that "the NFL has been trying to get him for years" - well criminals also believe that the Police are out to get them and that they are being singled out. Anyone working with the Police/League is just a wussy and a loser so you don't want to deal with them.
I am still so shocked by all this. I am trying to forget the 2009 season. Despite how great it was, the sensationalism around the Saints and how every fan everywhere wanted them to win during our frankly miracle season, it was sickening, and now the saints are the ring-scum in the toilet and we are still ringless. I just really want this to go away so I can enjoy my Vikings for the good guys that they are both new and old.

I am really excited about next season. Someone make the last few go away. All the replays are the bad stuff, and there was so much good._________________I love the Vikings, win or lose.

Carter: "But you have to realize the league we grew up in, the bounty was based on protection, or a big hit, excitement, or for helping your team win. It wasn't to maim or hurt the dude."

if i put a lot of smiley emoticons after that, would it help?

Keep telling yourself that. The reality is that bounties have always existed and the Saints were unfairly targeted to be the scapegoat because of lawsuits brought on by former players. This whole thing has very little to do with what the Saints did recently._________________SEC Champion = National Champion

Carter: "But you have to realize the league we grew up in, the bounty was based on protection, or a big hit, excitement, or for helping your team win. It wasn't to maim or hurt the dude."

if i put a lot of smiley emoticons after that, would it help?

Keep telling yourself that. The reality is that bounties have always existed and the Saints were unfairly targeted to be the scapegoat because of lawsuits brought on by former players. This whole thing has very little to do with what the Saints did recently.

I can sympathise with Saints fans, and I think it's obvious that they weren't the only team doing it. That said, they got caught, and they got caught doing it in a really ugly way. The fact that other teams might have done it as well doesn't exculpate the Saints one bit._________________

Carter: "But you have to realize the league we grew up in, the bounty was based on protection, or a big hit, excitement, or for helping your team win. It wasn't to maim or hurt the dude."

if i put a lot of smiley emoticons after that, would it help?

Keep telling yourself that. The reality is that bounties have always existed and the Saints were unfairly targeted to be the scapegoat because of lawsuits brought on by former players. This whole thing has very little to do with what the Saints did recently.

yeah, you betcha.

YOU keep telling yourself that. notice that Carter never said coaches were involved or team meetings were held with $10,000 cash being offered.

anyone who thinks Carter's statements about "big hits" and Williams' illegal activities attempting to have injured players carted off the field is just biased and deluding themselves._________________

Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been waiting all offseason to get a long-term contract done, and he’s getting sick of waiting. Brees said in an interview with WWL radio that he’s growing increasingly frustrated with what he sees as the Saints dragging their feet in getting a new agreement worked out.

Brees: “This is a big time for our team, especially when you look at what’s happened in this offseason, missing our head coach, Sean Payton. There should be a sense of urgency and yet it seems like there’s not. We’ve reached out on a number of occasions and at times I’ve been frustrated by the lack of response.”

“[An agreement is] maybe not as close as people would be led to believe. I would say that the numbers that have been thrown around by ESPN and some of these other places, at times, have been pretty heavily inflated. It’s been extremely frustrating for me. The negotiation shouldn’t have been this difficult.”

Like so many other developments in the Saints’ bounty drama, the latest one has arrived out of the blue, without warning.

During last Friday’s PFT Live, lawyer Peter Ginsberg vaguely hinted at additional legal action that he may be taking on behalf of Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma. But there was no indication that Vilma would file a lawsuit against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

That’s precisely what Vilma has done. It’s Vilma v. Goodell, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the federal court that encompasses New Orleans.

As specified in paragraph 1 on the complaint, the claim is defamation, which means that Vilma contends Goodell lied about Vilma when making public statements about Vilma’s role in the alleged bounty program.

Yawn...I'm tired of the Saints' players and their coaching staff's (and apparently their state Legislature as well) arrogance. Take your lumps and move on, you're not doing yourself any favors in the court of public opinion with this nonsense._________________

When Saints owner Tom Benson bought the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets, we joked that Saints coach Sean Payton could spend his one-year suspension working for the team.

As it turns out, Saints GM Mickey Loomis will spend his half-year suspension doing just that. Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that Loomis “likely” will oversee basketball operations for the Hornets.

Does Loomis actually have any experience at running a basketball franchise?

Apparently, he played basketball at a university in Oregon, but I don't think that means he's qualified to run a NBA franchise. That would be like hiring David Kahn to run the Vikings..._________________

Last week’s ruling from Stephen Burbank in Bounty Grievance No. 2 gave Packers defensive end Anthony Hargrove a glimmer of hope. On Monday, Burbank snuffed it out completely.

Burbank has ruled, a week after retaining jurisdiction over Hargrove’s grievance, that the attempt to shift the case away from Commissioner Roger Goodell should be rejected because Hargrove’s eight-game suspension arose in no way from potential salary-cap violations.